I. SUBJECT Gates of Fire is a novel about the Battle of Thermopylae set in ancient Greece. The novel began by focusing on its protagonist, Xeones, who died during the Battle of Thermopylae. The Greek god Apollo raised him from the dead so that he could tell the Persian king Xerxes his life story. Xeone's story began when he was just a young boy. His city was betrayed and conquered by one of their allies. He avoided being killed by fleeing to the mountains with his cousin Diomache and his family's slave, Bruxieus. The three lived in the mountains for two or three years before Bruxieus became seriously ill and died. For this reason, Diomache and Xeones decided to go to Athens. Xeones then decides to leave Athens and go to Sparta while Diomache decides to stay. In Sparta, Xeones becomes a helot and is entrusted to a Spartan soldier named Dienekes. Xeones was trained to fight like a Spartan and later became Dienekes' battle squire. When Xeones was about twenty years old, the Spartan king Leonidas announced that three hundred Spartan men would be sent on a suicide mission to Thermopylae to repel the invading Persian army. Dienekes was chosen to go. On the first and second days of the battle, many Persians were killed, but only a few Greeks. At the end of the second day, Xerxes found a secret path through which part of his army could pass and completely encircle the Greeks the next day. Leonidas learned of this and sent a group of Spartans, including Xeones and Dienekes, on an unsuccessful mission to kill Xerxes. On the third day the Persians surrounded the Spartans and they were all killed. Xeones died immediately after finishing his story. His body was transported to Diomache in Athens. She cremated his body and...... middle of paper ......the whole story of the Battle of Thermopylae. This makes it historical fiction. The subgenre of Gates of Fire is the adventure story. The adventure story is “a story in which action—often external, usually physical, and frequently violent—is the predominant material, emphasized before characterization, motivation, or theme. Suspense is generated by the question “What will happen next?” » rather than “Why?” or “To whom?” » (6). Since this novel was primarily about war, it would be considered an adventure. This made me wonder exactly what the quote was saying: “What will happen next?” » Works CitedHarmon, William, William Flint Thrall, Addison Hibbard, and C. Hugh Holman. A literature manual. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.Pressfield, Steven. Gates of Fire: An epic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae. New York: Bantam, 1998. Print